


Fantasia

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Centaurs, Courting Rituals, Getting Together, M/M, Minor Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Near Death Experiences, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24456553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Tony saves a centaur from drowning. Turns out that Bucky is absolutely gorgeous, and Tony plans to see him again.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 16
Kudos: 229





	Fantasia

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beir/gifts).



> Based on some centaur!Bucky/merperson!Tony art that beir made :D  
> https://beir.tumblr.com/post/151262567743/dreamcatchersdaughter-asked-mermaidtony

Tony was letting himself have a lazy day for once, making slow circles in the sunny water. He paused when he heard it, his body floating easily in place. 

It sounded like a land animal was making some noise, and not from land. Most of the animals that stayed near their shore could swim, but it was possible that someone got pulled in when trying to grab a drink and was panicking instead of getting out. So much for doing nothing today. Tony swam over quickly, expecting to find a raccoon that got its eye on a fish and followed for too long before realizing where it was. 

That was _not_ what he found. It was one of the centaurs from the west shore, and there was something wrapped around his legs so he couldn't swim. The centaur was giving it his best try to get free, but his hands kept slipping on the rope as he sunk lower and lower. Tony jetted over and bit through the rope, but it was too late for the centaur to help himself. Frankly, Tony didn't understand how all the land animals handled not being able to breathe underwater, but that was a complaint for later. The complaint for now was how fucking _huge_ this guy was. Tony wrapped his arms around his chest and started going up, but it wasn't as fast as he usually was with all this extra weight. Seriously, what did centaurs eat? This was ridiculous. Tony was pretty strong, as far as merpeople went, but trying to keep someone else's head above water as he tried to drag him over to shore was a lot harder than it sounded. 

"What the hell do centaurs do," Tony grumbled, finally heaving him onto wet grass, "bulk up for the winter?" He had to duck under to give a pointed shove between his set of legs, and his body was on land enough that Tony didn't worry about him falling right back in. 

The centaur started to cough, water leaving his mouth as he blearily blinked back to wakefulness. 

Tony pat him on the back because he'd seen people do that before. Land animals were weird. He had no idea how they worked; he was just guessing here. 

"What happened?" he croaked. 

"I saved you. You're welcome." Tony idly brushed his fingers through the centaur's hair. "I'm Tony, and you're gorgeous, it's nice to meet you." 

He snorted, pushing himself up to a sitting position. "I was helping Clint with a net, and..." he frowned. "I think I tripped. Got all tangled up and fell in the lake." 

Tony scoffed. "That's what you get for helping _Clint_." 

"You know him?" he asked, getting all his legs under him. From his new position, he was looking down at Tony. 

"Sure. He snared Natasha's affections a couple mating seasons ago and now she's always telling stories about her wild centaur partner. Sounds like quite the life," Tony said with a wink. 

He blushed, scrambling to his feet. "Um. Thanks for uh. Saving me." 

"Honey, I'd save you any day." 

The blush darkened. "Thanks, Tony," he said, then started to walk away. 

"Hey!" Tony called. 

He paused, looking over his shoulder. 

"You never told me your name." 

"Bucky." His tail swished, and then he was off, leaving Tony to watch him go as his bottom fin twirled in the water. 

Slowly, a grin stole across Tony's face. Bucky would be back. Either for Tony or with his herd, but it didn't matter. Tony would be there to see him with his jewelry around his neck and a devil-may-care grin on his face. Tony slid back into water and went to his cavern. He started working on a string of seashells for Bucky. It wasn't the best stuff in his collection, but this was... a gesture. He wasn't asking for Bucky to mate with him. He just, y'know, wanted for Bucky to consider it. 

* * *

They'd been doing the back and forth thing for a while now, and Tony was tired of waiting for Bucky to make a move. Bucky wore the string Tony had made him braided into his tail, and then he'd brought Tony a golden bracelet to match his necklace. It was obviously centaur in design-- thick bands instead of long and flowing-- and Bucky told him that it was supposed to fit around his upper arm, not dangle around his wrist. Tony gave him a flat look and pointed at the fin that made such placement impossible. Bucky had lightly trailed the edge of his fin, making him shudder, and that was about the time that Tony decided he was going to do something about their little flirtations. 

Tony might have given him more time to think about it, but after that time Bucky had joined him in the water and let Tony wrap his tail around him, Tony knew that he was open to it. You don't get that cuddly with someone you're not interested in. 

The golden moment came when Bucky was at the shore one morning. The water was still dark, not yet lit up from the sun. Centaurs had long days, so Tony didn't know how long Bucky had been awake by the time he saw him. Bucky started to lean down, and maybe it was Bucky about to signal him, or maybe it was an innocent drink of water he wanted. Tony jetted for the surface, putting his hands on both sides of Bucky's face and kissing him. 

Bucky's face flamed, eyes wide in surprise. 

Tony slunk back a little, licking his lips in satisfaction. 

One of his hooves kicked the ground nervously, then he held a hand out for Tony. Tony took his hand, then was pulled up out of the water, Bucky's arms easily supporting his weight. "I've been waiting for you t' do that for _ages_." 

"I was waiting for _you_ ," Tony said, wrapping his arms around Bucky's neck. "But I've only got a couple minutes before I need to go back in the water, so we can argue about it later." 


End file.
